Hot blood of "gypsy Lyubov Orlova": How the fate of the legend of the theater "Romen" Lyalya Chernoy

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The gypsies called her their queen and were proud of her, she was the star of the Romen Theater and shone in films. Those who knew her compared her to champagne and said that all men, without exception, lost their heads from her. The daughter of a Russian nobleman and a gypsy singer, Lyalya Chernaya possessed a hot temperament, bright beauty and extraordinary talent. After her very first roles, the actress was called “Gypsy Love Orlova,” and she really was not inferior to her famous colleague either in charm, or in popularity, or in her ability to win hearts.

Inherited beauty and talent

In fact, she had only a quarter of gypsy blood, because her mother, singer Maria Polyakova, was the daughter of a gypsy and Russian. She was a real beauty and sang in one of the best Moscow gypsy choirs. When Prince Sergei Golitsyn saw her on stage, he lost his head and once took her with him. She lived with him for several years and left after learning about the betrayal. Golitsyn begged her to return, but the nobleman Sergei Kiselev had already proposed to her, and she agreed to become his wife. In a marriage with him, Maria had a daughter, Nadezhda, who inherited from her mother her beauty, hot blood, and talent.

Once one of the guests, seeing little Nadia, exclaimed: "". After that, relatives began to call the girl Lyalya, and later, because of her dark skin, the nickname Black appeared - this was how the pseudonym was born, under which the whole Union soon recognized her. Already in her childhood, Lyalya was so artistic that no one could imagine any other way, except for the stage. After her father passed away, she helped her mother take care of the family and at the age of 13 began performing with her in Yegor Polyakov's gypsy choir. At the same time, at first she did not even sing - she just sat in the very center, like a living decoration. And when Lyalya once danced a Hungarian woman, the audience burst into applause. This is how her star was lit for the first time.

Prima donna of the theater "Romen"

At the age of 15, Lyalya Chernaya was a real star and performed with the gypsy choir not in restaurants, but on the stage, and also participated in annual thematic concerts that were held in the Column Hall and the Bolshoi Theater. In 1930, with the assistance of A. Lunacharsky, a recruitment was announced for a gypsy studio, which a year later was transformed into the Romen Theater. 22-year-old Lyalya came there as a well-known artist and, of course, was immediately accepted into the troupe.

She shone in productions of the Romen Theater and soon became its leading artist. She took part in almost all of his performances, the audience specially came “to Lyalya Chernaya”. More than a thousand times she appeared on stage in the lead role in the production of "Grushenka", and the audience never tired of admiring her organic nature, temperament, beauty and plasticity.

In 1935, the actress made her film debut in the title role in the film "The Last Camp". After the very first film work, popularity fell upon her, the gypsies of the camp proclaimed her their Queen, and film critics began to call her the gypsy Lyubov Orlova. Her niece Lyubov Aleksandrovich, who also performed at the Romen Theater, said: “”. Once during the war, the actress saw a lightly dressed woman with a child in her arms at the station. She took off her coat and gave it to her.

Champagne Woman

Those who knew her well said that she was like champagne - the same sparkling and heady. Men in her presence behaved as if in a state of intoxication, lost their heads and were ready for anything for her. Together with her in her first film, the actor of the Moscow Art Theater Yanshin, whom she had married a year before, was filmed. He played a huge role not only in her personal, but also in her professional life. From 1937 to 1941 Yanshin was the head of the Romen Theater, and even after he and Lyalya parted ways, he continued to help her and take care of her.

The niece of the actress said: "".

In 1942, Lyalya Chernaya divorced Yanshin and married Khmelev, and a year later they had a son. However, their family happiness was very short-lived - after 3 years the actor died right on stage during the dress rehearsal of the play in which he played Ivan the Terrible - this role took away all his mental strength. The actress was left alone with a small child, and her ex-husband came to her aid - he resumed several performances with her participation, staged two new performances for her, took care of her and her son, but the family reunion never happened. Lyalya Chernaya was no longer officially married, but many men fell in love with her. She was credited with novels with high-ranking officials and famous artists, when she was over 60, she drove the actor Yevgeny Vesnik, who was 14 years younger than her, crazy. They lived in a civil marriage for 5 years.

Peak of popularity and decline of a career

The post-war years became the most fruitful in her creative life: Lyalya Chernaya performed in the theater, actively toured with concerts, recorded records with songs and romances, participated with musical numbers in pop concerts and celebrations organized at the government level. This continued until the end of the 1960s. In 1972, the actress left the Romen Theater and stopped active touring.

The film career was never in the foreground for her, and after her first appearance on the screens in the 1935-1940s. she took a long pause for as much as 30 years. She returned to the set after leaving the theater, in the early 1970s, when she was already over 60. One of her most famous film roles was the old gypsy in the film Tabor Goes to Heaven, and the last film with her participation - "A Brief Instruction in Love" - was released in December 1982, 3 months after the actress passed away.

This film became a landmark for another actress: Why Svetlana Toma considers the film "Tabor Goes to Heaven" a gift of fate and a curse.